Sunday, June 1, 2025

Dean Slotary | The Absolution of Anthony / 1997

 

finding the right man

by Douglas Messerli

 

Dean Slotary (screenwriter and director) The Absolution of Anthony / 1997

 

A young, unhappy gay boy of 16, Anthony (Joe Quintero) simply does not know how to explore the sexual world in which he had become defined. He spends most afternoons and evenings in bed

randomly calling up men to demand that they share their love for him and desire for his body.

     Needless to say, this doesn’t work very successfully, especially when his unknowing uncle with whom he lives constantly attempts to regain control of the phone.



    Out on the streets for a few hours, Anthony discovers a seeming local homophobic basketball player Joe (Gary Cohen) who seems to be willing to test the waters.

     Meanwhile, the local priest, Father Carson (Victor Garber), knowing of the boy’s torment, offers to talk with him at any time.

     Obviously, Anthony’s mode of communication, hand on crotch while demanding that the other person on the phone tell him that he wants him, doesn’t achieve his goals, as he tries another unknown and finally the priest himself, who is forced to hang up.

     But suddenly Anthony awakens with a new sense of possibility, as he rises early, seeks out the basketball court and meets up with the kid who is willing to have sex with him.

     This is not a great movie, but is an intense exploration of a self in the making, a young man who is attempting to absolve himself from his intense demons.

 

Los Angeles, June 1 (2025)

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (June 2025).

      

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